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With 85 websites, more than 80 Facebook pages and 40 Twitter handles, handling McDonald's social-media operations during the London Olympics was a tall order, says digital chief Sosti Ropaitis. The brand avoided problems by recruiting a well-trained global team to manage its social-media presence, forging close ties with the company's legal department and crafting messages that didn't require specific cultural references.

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McDonald's is a global company with decentralized marketing programs that allow for smaller, grassroots efforts when it comes to social and digital, says Global Director of Digital and Social Media Sosti Ropaitis. "You can run the risk of sounding very corporate, very rigid, not as human. Any time we have a little bit more of a human tone, or expose that fun nature of the brand, people connect with that."

With 85 websites, more than 80 Facebook pages and 40 Twitter handles, handling McDonald's social media operations during the London Olympics was a tall order, says digital chief Sosti Ropaitis. The brand avoided problems by recruiting a well-trained global team to manage its social media presence, forging close ties with the company's legal department and crafting messages that didn't require specific cultural references.

Rick Wion, vice president-social media at GolinHarris, Chicago, has been hired as McDonald's first director-social media. Wion, who handled social-media projects for McDonald's in his agency job, is being asked to use social media to boost the quickservice chain's sales, address customer issues and reach out to mommy bloggers and other key audiences.

McDonald's has appointed its first social-media chief to oversee an expansion of its U.S. digital-marketing efforts. Rick Wion, who has been handling the company's social campaigns part time since 2006, says his first project will be to expand McDonald's outreach to mommy bloggers.

For the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, sponsor McDonald's has crafted ad and promotional packages geared toward particular global markets, including the U.S., Canada and Scandinavia. The U.S. campaign is being built around Chicken McNuggets and includes a micro-site and social-media components.